You are uniquely positioned to be a voice of reason of civility in an increasingly uncivil media discourse. Flaming is no longer confined to anonymous comment posters. It’s encouraged by editors and program directors at major media outlets—as you know, since the script that burned you was read, edited, approved by others and loaded into the telePrompter before you read it on air.

You can be the chastened sinner, the convert—the man who says ‘enough!’ You can be the flame retardant.

Actions:

You could ask Sarah Palin to meet so you can deliver an apology in person. Don’t tell the media you’re asking to meet her. See what happens. You might be surprised.

Write an op-ed calling for greater civility in civic discourse. Use some of the points from Sarah Koon’s excellent TED talk on emotional correctness—and credit her. She’s an out lesbian commentator on Fox News who gets fan mail from conservatives (along with the hate mail).

Host a series featuring people from widely opposing sides of the political spectrum. You encourage them to find something they agree on—mutual respect and a way forward together.

Pray.

Alternative path:

Follow your predecessor in the time slot, Dylan Ratigan, and go into hydroponic farming.

Sheila Hauser, Playbook reader

The remark was out of bounds, no question about it, but as I recall, Bashir apologized for his remarks. Where are his defenders? He has been one of the best commentators on MSNBC as far as I'm concerned, and I looked forward to watching his program whenever I could. The right-wing blatherers on Fox say worse about our president, Democratic legislators and even the pope. Name-calling is commonplace there, but they're allowed to get away with it. It is only on the more progressive programs where pundits are required to adhere to more rigorous standards.

That said, I think that Mr. Bashir should have gone on an apology tour. He should have appeared on other programs on MSNBC and other venues such as the Today Show, the Sunday Blab shows, the View, Rachel Ray, and the Food Network. If Paula Dean can rebound from saying the n-word, surely a little sacrilege in Ms. Palin's direction can be forgiven.

He should have enlisted supporters to begin a write-in campaign supporting him and asked other media figures to support him. He should have written articles for Huffington Post, Salon, and the Washington Post, apologizing and framing his criticisms of Ms. Palin in a more articulate way.

We have lost an important voice that I would like to see returned. Yes, he goofed up. In an unguarded moment, he said what he was thinking. He took it too far. He went overboard.

But personally, I'm tired of all the faux outrage generated by commentators' remarks. Save your outrage for something important. I'm outraged that in the wealthiest nation on earth, children go to bed hungry. I'm outraged that people who work full-time jobs, still have to apply for benefits in order to sustain themselves. I'm outraged that low-income seniors still have to chose between food and medicine. I'm outraged that we are not investing in the future of this nation by insuring affordable college educations for our children. I'm outraged that we lag behind other nations in the development of infrastructure. I'm outraged that political time and effort is dedicated to chastising pundits for a slip of the tongue instead of righting societal wrongs.

Kip Eideberg, partner/director of public affairs, Finn Partners:

You live by hyperbolic commentary … you die by hyperbolic commentary. While not necessarily inevitable, it was just a matter of time before Martin Bashir would get himself in trouble. The reality of today’s media landscape and the general tone of discourse in Washington, D.C., is such that Bashir will recover. He took the obligatory timeout. Was fired. He will disappear for a while, perhaps after going on another show to defend himself, then maybe do a weekly column for an online news site, followed by regular guest appearances on TV. After that it is just a matter of time before he gets regular airtime again. Sad, but it is the reality.